Warehouse owning couple left with cost of $250K to dispose of bankrupt Brooks brothers stuff

[Demovictory9]

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The Ghosts of Brooks Brothers
After the retailer filed for bankruptcy one couple was left with a warehouse full of abandoned mannequins and a price tag of nearly $250,000 to dispose of it.

The bones of Brooks Brothers stores are scattered across 100,000 square feet here in a warehouse near the Massachusetts border, mixed in with a sea of cardboard boxes and junk.

There are legions of mannequins, empty circular tables that once displayed neckties, posters of horseback-riding gentlemen from a bygone era. There is a whole section of Christmas trees and countless gold-painted ornaments of sheep suspended by ribbon — a Brooks Brothers symbol since 1850 known as the Golden Fleece. Blank order forms for tailors are strewn about. A neon sign that apparently still works. There is no apparel, but there are rows of heavy sewing machines that most likely came from one of the brand’s recently shuttered factories. And in the bathroom, a welcome carpet with Brooks Brothers written in cursive sits next to a toilet.

The whole mass was abandoned here in the fallout of Brooks Brothers’ bankruptcy filing and sale last year, the scraps of a retailer that made nearly $1 billion in sales in 2019. Ever since, the couple that owns the warehouse, Chip and Rosanna LaBonte, has been scrambling to figure out how to get rid of it all. Junk removal companies have told them it will cost at least $240,000 to clear the space, which Brooks Brothers had rented through November. In order to pay the bill, the LaBontes are going to have to sell their home.

The couple’s plight illustrates the far-reaching consequences of retail bankruptcies, which cascaded during the pandemic and affected everyone from factory workers to executives. Smaller vendors and landlords have often been left holding the short end of the stick during lengthy byzantine bankruptcy proceedings, particularly with limits on what they can spend on legal bills compared with larger corporations. And once bankrupt brands are sold, people like the LaBontes are typically left in the dust.


https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/02/business/brooks-brothers-retail-bankruptcy.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

[rsdsharp]

1. I didn't know Brooks Brothers is bankrupt.

I get at least one, and sometimes two, email ads a day from them.

[Stallion]

3. Must be Ch. 11 (Reorganization) because Their Website is Still Running

[Brother Buzz]

10. Bankrupt, sold, and now is primarily mail order

The new owners hope maintain a quarter of its brick and mortar establishments, but I suspect the number will drop when reality sets in; Brooks Brothers lost its cachet years ago.

[Stallion]

11. That's What Ch. 11 is-file a Plan of Reorganization, assume viable Ks, reject burdensome Ks

and sell the assets not needed for reorganization. I would think their business shirts line still has some value-especially their non-iron line which is very popular but which I really don't like.

[intrepidity]

2. Post it on Craigslist in the "Free" section

Somebody will take it. And be pleased to get it.

[ZonkerHarris]

5. open it up to local artists to take what they can use. Artists love manniquins and parts of them

[intrepidity]

6. Exactly nt

[Demovictory9]

8. good idea

[Vinca]

4. All they have to do is open the doors to "pickers" and it will be cleared out in no time.

For people looking for antiques, collectibles and oddities, this is a dream come true. They shouldn't pay a dime to get the stuff removed. I get first dibs on the "posters of horseback-riding gentlemen."

[Demovictory9]

9. i would take one of those small tables

[csziggy]

26. I wouldn't mind one of the sewing machines

It'd have to be better than the plastic geared re-branded Singer I bought as a Kenmore ages ago that is too weak to sew through three layers of medium weight cloth.

[LakeArenal]

13. Yeah, right! Dreamy picking.

I’d take the bath mat. It would be great in the garage.

[NameAlreadyTaken]

7. Maybe they can have a riot sale

[LakeArenal]

12. Just advertise everything must go and it's free.

You’ll have plenty lined up for it.

[LakeArenal]

14. Also St Vincents and Goodwill will pick stuff up

[SharonClark]

20. Not stuff their clients can't use.

[LakeArenal]

21. It's a lot of furniture. If it's sellable it's Goodwillable.

Not the trash.

[Silent3]

15. I once worked for a company that went through bankruptcy

It was a much smaller company, but the stupidity of the process was amazing. Sadly not unexpected, but amazingly stupid nevertheless.

The various creditors were fighting for how many pennies-on-a-dollar they'd get paid on the money they were owed. As so often happens, the lawyers then got almost all of what was left to get, and then the creditors got some hard-fought-for portion of the dime from each dollar that was left over after the legal process.

[Progressive Lawyer]

16. Lawyers get paid first. That is a universal truth.

[Stallion]

19. If You Aren't a Secured or Preferred Creditor You're Probably wasting Your Time

[msongs]

17. bankruptcy is legally cheating people nt

[LakeArenal]

22. I hear that a lot. But bankruptcy is a legal tool to give people and business a second chance.

Murderers, thieves, rapists get second chances. So should folks that slip off the financial end.

It’s a bit like abortion. Nobody sets out to get bankrupt. No one wants to file bankruptcy. People ruin lives in bankruptcy. Bankruptcy ruins lives, financial security, possibly forever.

No one sets out to screw people.

Unless you are like trump. He knows exactly how to use something not meant for him and spoils it for ordinary folks.

And for the record, I was a bankruptcy counselor.

[fescuerescue]

23. sort of

Bankruptcy allows SOME people to get paid.

Without bankruptcy laws folks and companies would just take what is left for themselves and then NO-ONE would get paid.

Bankruptcy just organizes who loses into categories and with a pecking order.

Without bankruptcty laws, getting loans for houses and cars would be MUCH MUCH harder. It's bankruptcy laws that give lenders some assurance that they will get something back when they loan money.

Maybe that would be a good thing. I dunno.

[Hekate]

18. "Rows of heavy sewing machines" would be a great find for some start-up

I am really sorry for these folks. They had to sell their own home.

[fescuerescue]

24. I dunno. Seems like there is a cheaper solution to this than a quarter million dollars

People love free stuff.

Just watch the TV show horders if you don't believe that.

[keithbvadu2]

25. And then, executives sometimes get bonuses to help smooth the transition to bankruptcy.

And then, executives sometimes get bonuses to help smooth the transition to bankruptcy.